The Balkan Yankee

Song starts just after the one minute mark:

Big Ideas (don’t get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
This video just makes me happy…

Tick Tock Tea Box, originally uploaded by garth walker.

This box of tea caught my eye in London a couple years ago and a friend who knew this gave me one (full) last year. There is a detail if you click through to my flickr page above. It has a lovely early 20th century style illustration of… a tea party? Great typography as well. It’s reminiscent of P22’s Constructivist, especially with the triangular cross-bar in the A. I’m guessing it is actually a custom type job though, because I can’t find a match for the K.

Oh, and the tea tastes great too. It’s a pure Rooibos “Red Bush” in Afrikaans grown only in a small region of South Africa.

AND… Here I found a link to Tick Tock Tea on the web.

“Children’s Snacks”, originally uploaded by garth walker.

I am very fond of old communist graphic design. You can still see some of it on the crumbling signage of forgotten buildings, but very rarely do you come across a gem like this still in production. The cookies themselves, unfortunately, aren’t as delicious as I’d hoped, but they go down nice with a glass of milk.

I love it so much, I could resist doing my own parody.

wanted_dead

Originally uploaded by garthwalker

Last week I went walking around the center with my camera and roommate to take some pictures. We came across some interesting graffiti like the WANTED stencil to the right. We found many of this one drawing comparisons with Bush and the Nazi Regime, also a nice stencil. We found two crudely spayed messages, one Anti-NATO, and one pro-Nationalist slogan painted on a dilapidating communist statue.

Among those photos not included were several declaring “Punks not dead” (if you’re seeing this message in Bulgaria, I think its already self-contradictory evidence) and one curiously proclaiming “Skateboarding Vs. Armani”.

It’s definitely a kick to see American Political views expressed in this Banksiesque way on the streets of Sofia, so I’m keeping my eyes open for more. Anyone who is reading this in Sofia, let me know if you’ve seen others, or have pictures of them yourself.